Haven't I seen you somewhere before?
by RunYouCleverBoyAndRememberMe
Summary: The first time Steve saw the small brunette, he was being beaten up in a back alley. or the one in which Clara is a fan of Captain America and persuades the Doctor to take her back so she can meet him, and his ill-fated best friend SPOILERS FOR THE WINTER SOLDIER


so this story came out of nowhere. And I wrote 5 pages in an hour. wow

The first time Steve saw the small brunette, he was being beaten up in a back ally. Again. This time, though, Bucky was at work, and there was no one around to help him. The guy beating him up was big and built like a house, the total opposite of skinny little Steve. Steve had seen him in a bar, trying to chat up the brunette, who was obviously uninterested. She was pretty, Steve noticed, with dark hair that curled in waves around her shoulders.

-The same colour as Bucky's his mind noticed-

She wore an unusual dress, even for Steve, who generally didn't notice these things, with a red satchel over her shoulder, and she carried a matching umbrella. Steve wondered why as the day was blue skied and the sun was shining. The big guy put his hand on her back possessively, leering at the girl. She immediately smacked him over the face, and Steve grinned.

Good for her.

Unfortunately, the man didn't seem deterred. He snarled and grabbed her by her upper arm. She cried out as his fingers dug into her flesh. No one moved to help her, to afraid of the man's inevitable wrath.

This was of course when Steve stood up.

"Leave her alone!" he said, with as much force as he could muster.

The man turned to him, a horrible grin on his face "Oh yeah? What are you going to do, skinny?"

Steve thought for a moment.

"This!"

He swung his fist and hit the guy square in the jaw. For a first punch it wasn't half bad. The man reeled back, letting go of the girl and crashing into a table. Steve started to congratulate himself, when the man was suddenly ramming into him with huge force, propelling them both out of the doors and into the alley.

This, of course, meant it all went downhill from there for Steve.

After a few punches, the door to the bar opened again.

Oh great. Steve thought, more of his goons coming to punch up the little guy.

But it wasn't the big guy's friends. It was the brunette, eyes wide.

"Go!" Steve shouted, between punches. He didn't want her getting hurt "Get out of here!"  
>Instead of fleeing, the girl instead ran towards him, hollering like a banshee and wielding her red umbrella. So surprised at being attacked by the girl, the man stopped punching Steve and turned to counter this new threat. He was instead whacked hard over the head by the umbrella, before she realised it wasn't doing much good. Then she threw it to Steve, and slapped him several times before delivering a crippling kick to his groin. The man collapsed wheezing.<p>

Steve, rather awestruck, handed the girl back her umbrella.

"Thanks" he said

"Don't mention it" she replied, ad Steve realised she was English. That explained the umbrella. She took the umbrella, looked down and the man, and delivered one final blow to the head. The man stopped trying to get up.

"You were…" Steve trailed off. He had never talked to a girl before, and all of Bucky's lessons definitely did not include this.

"Amazing? Fantastic? Brilliant? Eh, I know. Thanks for trying to compliment me" she smiled at him in a way to show she was joking. He couldn't help but smile back.

A second of silence, then the girl looked at her watch.

"Crap, I'm late for my ride!" she said, startled "I'd better run!"

She turned to go

"Wait!" Steve shouted "What's your name?"

She smiled again, but this time it was like she knew a secret that Steve didn't.

"Clara" she said "Clara Oswald"

Then she ran from the alley shouting behind her

"It was wonderful to meet you Steve!"

It was only when Steve got home and Bucky demanded the reason behind his bruises, that he realised that he had never told her his name.

-oo0000oo-

Steve forgot about the mysterious Clara over the next few months- not deliberately, but just because there was so much going on. The war had captured his interest and his best friend had captured his heart, and among all of the other fights he had got involved in, the one that had differed had got kinda lost. Either way, the determination to sign up, plus the fear that Bucky would get drafted and sent out without him quite drove it from his mind.

-ooo000ooo-

It was Bucky's last night. It was Bucky's last night. It didn't really seem real for Steve. Bucky was going and he wasn't. he admitted to himself he was slightly jealous, but the deep seated terror that this might be Bucky's last night with him pushed it to the side. So Steve put up with the pains of a double date to the 'future' as Bucky called it.

Either way, his date was rude (not that he would say so) and totally intent on getting Bucky's attention. Not that Steve wasn't used to it, but it did get wearing after a while.

Bucky's date was a short brunette, and it was only when she waved to the two of them he recognised her

"Clara?"

"Hi Steve!" she said cheerily, holding Bucky's hand "Fancy seeing you here!"

The way she said it made Steve think it wasn't an accident.

"Wait, you two know each other?" Bucky asked bewildered

"Yeah, I saved his ass from being kicked yest- a few months ago. Isn't that right?" she smiled at him again.

"No umbrella this time?" he joked

"It's not raining." Her smile was as mysterious as the girl herself.

"Oh, my God, Steve's talking to a girl" Bucky muttered, but he was ignored.

"It wasn't raining the first time" Steve replied

"I know" she said enigmatically

He laughed "You're impossible!"

Her smile softened "I've been called that before"

Her blonde friend interrupted "Look, I thought we were going dancing!" Steve couldn't help his gaze drifting to the enlisting office.

"If you don't wanna come, you don't have to" Bucky said quietly to Steve.

"You go" Steve said distractedly "it's your last night"

Clara stepped forward "Actually, I'd better go too. I'll be late for my ride."

She kissed Bucky on the cheek as she hugged him and whispered something in his ear. Bucky looked confused, then laughed it off as she moved back.

She hugged Steve next, and he staggered back a little under the weight of her arms around him.

"Things may not look good Steve, but I promise, they will get better" she whispered. Then even quieter, so he actually stopped breathing to hear her "He will always come back to you"

She stepped away as if she hadn't said anything, gave one final wave, and disappeared into the crowd.

"Shame" Bucky sighed "It's always the pretty ones who are nuts"

"Why?" Steve asked "what did she say?"

"She told me to trust you and to remember you" Bucky shrugged "And to look out for trains. Nuts that one"

Steve forced a laugh "Yeah. Nuts."

-oo000oo-

At the other side of the fair, stood an old blue box with the words 'Police Public Call Box' written across the top. Clara strolled calmly up to it and knocked presently on the door.

The Doctor poked his head out

"Done what you wanted?" he asked

"Yeah" Clara sighed

She looked back at the fair, to the enlisting station where she could just see a skinny blonde talking to a dark haired man in uniform. They hugged briefly, then parted. Clara watched as the blonde went into the station.

"They have so much pain ahead" she sighed sadly

The Doctor put a comforting hand on her shoulder

"But you know what happens. They will always find each other."

"But they won't be them! They'll be changed…scarred by what happens to them!"

"You know why we can't change it. I know it's not fair. But what ever happens to them, they're still Steve and Bucky. Steve will always find Bucky and Bucky will always protect Steve. And over the course of a war, a war of decades and assumed death, they will fall in love."

He turned Clara to face him. She was now crying, the tears falling silently.

"Love is the one thing, Clara, which breaks all of the rules. It transcends time and space itself. It is a weapon, and an instrument of peace. It is two halves of the same coin. The ying and the yang. The Angel and the Human. The Nurse and the Kissagram" He swallowed hard "The Mad Man and the Archaeologist. Captain America and the Winter Soldier. Some people the universe just wants to fall in love. Here is a prime example. We know they are okay, in the future."

He smiled, looking like he was reminiscing "As a young man once said, life is a pile of good things and bad things. The good things don't make up for the bad, but the bad do not necessarily ruin the good things and make them unimportant. There are bad times ahead, for the both of them. But, for now, this is a good moment, and that is what matters"

He led her gently into the TARDIS. Clara took once last look at the fair.

"Good luck" she whispered then disappeared forever 


End file.
